It hasn’t sunk in yet, says Sachin Tendulkar

India’s batting legend Sachin Tendulkar said Monday that the feeling of winning the World Cup hasn’t sunk in yet and he is still in a daze.

“It hasn’t sunk in yet honestly…I don’t know how to react to this…just when the tournament got over and we actually held the
trophy we had to actually pinch ourselves. Now that the tournament is over we don’t know what to look forward to now, what is next in life,” Tendulkar told in an interview to CNN-IBN.

“Pre-tournament we were so engrossed in planning things & working out certain things…looking out at strengths & weaknesses of the
opposition & all of a sudden the tournament is over and we’ve won the cup…It is difficult to believe but its a wonderful dream,” he said.

Tendulkar reiterated that winning the World Cup was the proudest moment of his life.

“It was the proudest moment of my life by far, because the reason for me to start playing cricket was to lift this beautiful trophy one day
& do it for the nation & every cricketer wants to do that & I’ve waited for long 22 yrs. Its a rather long period to wait but the best
part was I continued chasing my dream. My dream was to lift the trophy and god was kind enough to allow me to do,” he said.

Asked what was the biggest stress reliever, Tendulkar said: “We weren’t stressed as such but there was a bit of pressure…but
pressure was within the team to somehow win this trophy for the nation…for each other in the dressing room and the preparation
started long time ago. We had started planning & preparing some 12-15 months back. All I can say is that whatever we had planned the execution was equally important and we were able to do.”

Tendulkar, who couldn’t hold back his tears after India won the World Cup, said the victory is way sweeter that ‘we all imagined’.

“I don’t know how to express myself but I am really exited & thrilled about this. This is definitely the biggest day of our lives. It means
so much to the entire nation. I am thankful to Almighty for showering these blessings on us,” he said.

On Sachin playing on his homeground, Tendulkar said: “Well, in 2007 we went through a tough period & all credit to Gary Kirsten and support staff who worked with him…they all got together and worked very hard with us and made sure we were in that space and we were able to go out and perform and give our best & to create that environment in the dressing room is extremely important and that’s something that happened to us.”

“We were allowed to express ourselves in the middle, which is where it matters and that was the reason we had those happy tears in our eyes,” he said.